Where Heroes Go After Their Journey
by HighLadyoftheNightCourt
Summary: A story involving the recovery of the characters after the Dark War. Mostly centered on Jace and who he wants to be now that he has chosen to be a Herondale. will change point of view at times Disclaimer: I own nothing
1. Chapter 1

There had been a time he thought his life was going to be normal, but there was always something changing that. Weather it was moving to live with the Lightwoods, finding out he had special angel powers, thinking the girl he loved was his sister, her turning out not to be his sister, traveling to the demon realms to defeat a psychotic lunatic. Sometimes he wished he was like everyone else normal, none special, sometimes he even wondered what it would be like to be a mundan. He wondered what would've happened if he had known his parents. He wondered where he would go from here.

He sat on an old trunk in the attic of Herondale Manor. He was alone, Clary had been spending time with her mom and Luke, who were still recovering from their trip to Edom. Alec and Isabelle were somewhere avoiding Robert and Maryse, as was he but for different reasons. Everyone in Alicante was recovering from the Dark war. Simon was… he was gone, alive but gone.

He looked around the dusty old place, it was untidy and it bothered him. Hazy sunlight poured in from a small window being the only source of light. There was a pile of old frames, portraits of the of those who'd lived here before. He got up from where he sat on the old trunk and over to the window, it's glass covered in years of dust. He wouldn't bother to clean it himself, it didn't matter. He left the window over to the flight of stairs that lead to the second story of the house.

he walked the length of the hall until he got to the main staircase, Which reminded him of manor houses in the movies and how grand the looked when you entered the house. He imagined this place had been grand once, it seemed like it had been the type of place where laughter once echoed through the halls, where music had been played and been full of happiness. Another feeling he got was the reminder was this was the house his mother had died in, the place where she had taken her own life out of grief, that reminder always made him feel like this place was filled with ghosts, and maybe Céline was amongst them.

He found himself drawn to the study, whichs walls were made up of shelves. It had occurred to him when he saw this room for the first time that he knew nothing about the Herondales. He knew them from history books and stories of traitors, deserters, and heros all the same, but the one thing he'd understood was they were great readers. Lovers of words. He'd found notes written in them, pages marked and stained novels with ink. The thing he most admired was the large collection of Charles Dickens, they had four editions of _a tale of two cities_ for no apparent reason, seriously what was with these people and their obsession with Dickens? He took out a copy of _Great Expectations _and opened it to its title page which on the back had words written in ink, long faded and illegible except for the insholes on the bottom _J.H._

Jace heard a knock on the door and slid the book back into it's place. He walked out of the study and into the front entrance to open the door. Alec stood outside, his hands in the pockets of his sweater, His breath was visible in the cold air. "Are you going to let me in or are you gonna let me freeze?" He said pushing past him without an invitation. "Um… Come in I guess. Is this going to become a thing with you, baring into peoples homes?" Alec raised an eyebrow at him not quite knowing how to respond, he then looked around him at the entrance hall, taking it in. "So this is the house of heros." He said still observing the room like a crime scene. "Seems fitting for you." He said looking back at Jace. "I'm not a hero." Jace said, maybe because he didn't want it to be true. "Yes you are." Alec said putting his hand on the bottom railing of the stairs. "Then you're one too." He said looking at him. Alec looked away. "Well if thats what the clave wants us to believe, then we're heros." They were silent for a moment before Jace spoke again. " Hows Magnus? Is he feeling any better? Are you two-" "He's fine. And Yes we're back together, everything's fine." Jace walked over to him. "Everythings fine but it's changed." he added. "Everything's supposed to change." Alec ran his fingers through his hair. "Can we not do this? At least not here." He said stepping away. " Do what?" " have one of those deep conversations that will ultimately end with one of us crying." Alec said. " I like these conversations, I think we should go to a therapy session, we would be great." Alec rolled his eyes. " Alec, would you please tell Jace how you feel." Jace said mockingly. He erupted in laughter. "See this is normal, you cracking terrible jokes is normal, and I need this to stay the same." He said with a smile. " I need us to stay the same. Because I don't want everything to change, I still want to be able to talk to to you but I don't want us to be burdened on how the other one is feeling." He looked serious now. "Okay." Jace said stepping towards him "now come here and hug me brother." Alec stepped towards him and enveloped him in a hug. " This is so weird." he whispered in his ear. " Yeah lets not be the hugging type of brothers." Jace said stepping away.

**A/N: This was originally going to be part of my TMI one shot series but I wanted to make a story out of it. Depending on responses and if people like it I'll have the next chapter up if not this will become a one shot. Thank you for reading :) **

**~~RowanWhitethorn22**


	2. Chapter 2

Helen packed up what clothes she had. She couldn't believe this was happening to her. She had just lost her father, her brother was only the angel knew where and now _this._ She had tried to keep herself together for the past few days. Why her? Why did this have to happen to her?

"So you're really leaving?" Helen turned to see Julian standing in the doorway. His eyes were red and puffy as if he'd been crying. For a second she didn't know what to say. What do you say to a boy who had no one? What do you tell him? "Yes." she said approaching him. "Tonight actually." she added. "You can't. You have to stay!" He yelled tears falling from his eyes. "Julian, thats not my decision to make and besides the Clave already made their decision." She said cupping his face in her hands and forcing him to look at her.

"Julian, I need you to do something for me." She said wiping the tears from his eyes. "What?" He croaked. "I need you to be in charge, I need you to look after everyone while I'm gone. Uncle Arthur will be there, but he doesn't know them like you do, and Emma needs someone as well and she'll help. I need you to be brave and be there for them. Ty, Livvey, Dru and Tavvy, they need someone, and I'm counting on you. Okay?" He looked at her for a long moment before collapsing into her whimpering. She tried to soothe him by rubbing him on his back. He was just a kid, a little kid and now he had become a parent. She wanted to cry herself, to hold her little brother and tell him he was going to be fine, that they were going to be fine.

* * *

Jace and Alec lay on the floor of the study staring up at the ceiling conversing about what they were going to do when they got home, the possibility of someone trying to burn down the world again, and why the world would always need saving. To him it had felt like a long time since they talked like this, sharing their thoughts on the world and smiling and laughing together.

"you know what?" Jace said looking at him side ways. "What?" Alec asked. " If we ever go back to the demon realms I want ride one of those flying demons." he said imaging himself riding off into the horizon on a demon like a knight. "Thats stupid." Alec said still looking at the ceiling. "You're right, next time the world needs saving send someone else, I'm retiring." He said dramatically. Alec rolled his eyes. " you know who I think could save the world?" Jace said looking at Alec. "Who?" he said tiredly. "that girl Emma. She seems… well feisty." Alec smiled. "Yes, she sorta reminds me of you." he said suppressing the urge to laugh. "Why do people keep saying that!? Is it because were both blond? Are you one of those people who thinks all blonds are the same?" He said getting up and looking at him. Alec laughed. "No, it's just you both have a… a fiery spirit." he said pulling himself up. Jace corked his eye brow. "I didn't mean it like _that_. I'm saying you both seem confident, like you know who you want to be in life." He said. "To be honest I have no clue who I want to be." Jace said getting to his feet to help Alec off the floor. "and I doubt twelve year old Emma Carstairs knows what she wants yet." he finished. Alec looked at him for a long moment and then walked to the door. "I should get going." He said putting his hand on the knob. "Okay." Jace said running his fingers through his hair. He followed him out to the front door. " Don't stress yourself Jace." he said before opening the door. "I won't." He said.

Alec opened the door and looked surprised to see Isabelle and Clary standing on the other side."There you are. We've been looking for you." Isabelle said dragging Alec outside, Jace followed. " Helen and Aline are leaving soon. Theres a small crowd in angel square to send them off." Isabelle explained. As she dragged them outside into the cold night. Jace followed behind them with Clary. "Wait, Jia is really sending her away? and allowing Aline to go with her?" "No, that whole trial was all for show, Helens staying here." Isabelle said sarcastically. "Well someone is in a mood." Jace commented as they made their way through the streets of Alicante. "_Jace_." Clary said "what?" Clary looked at him and then at Isabelle. "She's going through a lot, we all are." "I know." he said sighing.

When they finally reached angel square, there was a crowd of people standing around. Jia and Patrick Penhallow, Jocelyn and Luke, the Lightwoods, the Blackthorn children, Emma Carstairs, even Magnus. "There you are." Magnus said approaching them. He immediately went to Alec. They all walked over to join the crowd, Isabelle stayed as far from Robert and Maryse as she could get, Clary going to stand by Luke and Jocelyn, Jace stood over by himself watching as Jia hugged her daughter goodbye and as one of the Blackthorns, He didn't know which one (they all looked the same to him.) was being held by Helen. "Their all alone now." Jace looked to see Emma Carstairs standing next to him, her hair braided over her shoulder. "Thats not true, they have you and their uncle and each other." He said looking at her, she was so young and alone. " I guess so." she said. Still looking at them. Jace remembered when he was her age, when he had thought he'd lost his father. He remembered being alone, but he remembered knowing finding his other family. "everything will be okay." he said to know one in particular, maybe it was to Emma or to himself. She walked away over to the older one, Julian. "Okay time to get going." Magnus announced, holding the blue glow of the portal. Jace watched as both girls took each others hand and looked into the great uncertainty of the portal. He watched as they stepped through together disappearing for good.


	3. Chapter 3

"_Clary!" Jonathan yelled from behind her trying to keep up with her. "Wait for me!" she laughed and kept running down the hill towards the manor house, white flowers clutched in her hand as she ran. " You'll have to catch me!" she yelled back over her shoulder. She was almost home. She felt a hand on her shoulder as she was wrestled to the ground. "Get off of me." She squealed. "Nice try, but you can't out run me little sister." He said as she rolled onto her back looking up at him. _

_He was beautiful, like spring time. The way his green eyes smiled down at her like they always had, how the light shined and reflected off of him and his smile so good, so full of love. He was her brother and he loved her and he always would. He was beautiful and he loved her. _

_Jonathan rolled off of her to her side and took a moment to catch his breath. "I went easy on you." he said. "no you didn't" "yes I did. I gave you a head start." He said looking up at the sky. He turned to her, his face composed of seriousness. "Can I ask you something?" He asked her, she looked at him and smiled. "Sure, anything." he looked at her, his eyes looked sunken, she felt her smile drip away. His eyes flickered into a black color. "Jonathan?" She bolted up to look at him. He tuned on his back, his eyes flickering between green and black. "Do sisters forgive?" _

Clary bolted upright in bed, her eyes flying open. She felt sweat dripping from her forehead and her heart pounding in her chest. The dream had been as real as it had been the first time she had it in Edom, except that had been different. I was recurring the dream about the alternate Jonathan, the brother who loved her and her mother and was good and gentle. _Do sisters forgive?_ did she? She thought of him laying there dying while her mother leaned over him crying, watching the life fade out of him. She remembered the literal hell he put them through. Did who he was deserve forgiveness? Did anyone forgive him?

She looked down at the boy laying next to her. she leaned down to kiss him on the cheek. Jace smiled in his sleep. She sat there watching him. She wouldn't go back to sleep, because she didn't want to dream of the brother that never existed. She would sit there in the dark thinking of other things, of her mom and Luke and their wedding, or of Simon and how he was gone, or of the fact her mother wanted to see if they could go through the old brownstone in Brooklyn and clear out. She wanted to think about something, but not _him._

* * *

"Good morning." Clary said sleepily from beside him. Jace rolled over with a groan, wiping the sleep from his eyes. He looked up her. she was already sitting up and undoing her hair from a messy bun. "We're leaving tomorrow." she said flatly as if the reason they were returning was for a funeral. "Yeah." he said matching her tone. There was a moment of silence between them.

"Do… you … ever…" She stopped. "Do I ever what?" he asked propping himself up. "It's nothing." she said looking away. "No, tell me. I'm all ears." he said, curious about what she was asking. "Do you ever think about him? What he would have been like if he hadn't been… well you know …" "A demonic psychopath?" Jace suggested. the answer was yes, he wondered sometimes if it had been the other way around, if Jonathan had been the angelic one and Jace had been the one trying to burn down the world. Instead of telling her he said "No, I never really thought about it." He pushed himself up so he was sitting. "Why?" He asked looking at her. "Do you remember me telling you about that dream I had when we entered Edom?" He nodded. "I keep having them." she said looking down at her hands. "So it's us getting married and Jon-" "No." she said interrupting. "It's different every time, but he's always good, he's always there." she leaned over her head in his shoulder, her eyes closed. He could see she was trying not to cry. He tuned his head to kiss her. He kissed her head. "If he had been good, he would of loved you." He whispered into her hair.

As the day progressed she left to go pack. He packed as well, packing up all of his belongings along with with a couple books from the study. He picked up the silver bracelet had belonged to Jonathan with the inscription _Acheronta movebo, 'If I can not reach heaven, I will raise Hell.' _he tucked the bracelet into the pocket of his jeans. There was one more thing he needed to do before leaving. He took himself to Lake Lyn and stood there remembering being there with Clary and throwing his ashes to the bottom. He reached into his pocket for the bracelet, and just like Jonathan himself it was thrown into the depths of the lake where it belonged.

**A/N: I'm sorry this was a really short chapter, I'll post a longer one next time. I don't have a regular up lode schedule for this story yet so from now on it's gonna be really random. Also I will not be updating any of my stories next week( April 12-17), because I won't be here. **

**Thank you all for your reviews and for reading, if theres any feed back you want to give on this story please feel free I always appreciate it. **

**~~~Rowanwhitethorn22 :) **


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hello again and sorry for not updating in a while. This chapter is a little more about Magnus then anyone else so yeah. **

* * *

The portal loomed in front them. Magnus holding it open. Jocelyn and Luke had already stepped through along with Izzy and Maryse. Jace stood there watching as Clary stepped into the portal disappearing. He looked at Alec who stood next to him fiddling with the holes in his sleeves. "Who's next? I can't hold this thing open forever." Magnus called over to them. Alec looked at him. "You should go. I think I might wait for him." He said gesturing to the impatant warlock. "Say no more. I wouldn't want to intrude on your _alone _time." Jace said with a wink. Alec rolled his eyes.

Jace stepped in front of the portal and took a deep breath. He secretly regretted having breakfast this morning, portal travel made him nauseous. He closed his eyes and stepped through. He thought about New York, no parking, Central Park, the way the city looked in the winter. his head spinned but he smiled when he heard cars and heard the crunch of the snow beneath his feet. He opened his eyes. He was standing in front of the institute which towered over him. He was home. "It's freezing!" Jace turned to see Magnus and Alec standing behind him. "It's January." Alec said. Both came to stand next to Jace. "Where is everyone?" Jace wondered out loud. "Probably inside where it's warm." Magnus said pulling his purple leather jacket tighter around him.

"It took you long enough!" all three looked to see Catarina Loss approaching, a large coat hung open over her scrubs. She walked over till she was in front of them. "How was Idris?" she asked skipping the greeting. "Oh just fantastic, I was drugged, kidnapped, held prisoner by a psychopathic nut case, Introduced my boyfriend to my father, lost Seamus in the demon realms and watched an innocent half breed Shadowhunter get exiled." Magnus said his tone sarcastic. Jace watched as Catarina tried suppressed a smile. "I know." She finally said. " Malcolm told me." Both Alec and Jace looked at each other both confused on who this Malcolm was and how he knew about what happened. "Oh Malcolm told you. Oh of course, because Malcolm knows everything doesn't he?" Magnus said still sarcastic. "He told me you were _missing_." she stated while stuffing her hands into her pockets. "He was worried about you. I was worried about you!" Magnus looked over his shoulder to where Jace and Alec were still standing then looked back at Catarina. "Maybe we should go inside." Alec said quietly. Jace nodded and started following him. They both left Magnus and Catarina talking in the cold.

* * *

Magnus Bane made his way up to his apartment with Catarina behind him. They'd left the institute with Maryse offering him to stay the night (as long as it was in a separate room from her son) but he had gratefully declined. He always felt like an intruder when he was in an institute so he never allowed himself to stay long enough to be offered. "_Whenever a Downworlder spends the night in the Nephilims Institutes it is for one of three reasons, one is their a prisoner of the clave, two is they've grown so desperate that they'd had no where else to go, three is they are having 'sleepovers' with one on the residence"_ he remembered Ragnor saying briefly decades but at the time he'd been referring to to a specific someone and she ended up living in an institute for good forty years.

He stopped in front of his door hearing the sound of salsa music. Magnus turned towards Catarina glaring at her as she shrugged. "You said he left." Magnus said gesturing to the door. "No, I said he didn't accidentally burn the city down while you were gone. I never said he left." She made her point by shoving past him and opening the door.

Malcolm Fade was laying in the middle of Magnus's living room with his legs dangling in the air clearly unaware that they had arrived and were now standing around him. Malcolm was another story altogether. He hadn't always been so… so like he was now. It had been when he was young that he was more present and well …. less broken. But now he was all wide eyed and absent to what was happening around him, his violet eyes looked glazed over and glossy and his fair hair stuck out at odd angles at times. There was a certain beauty to him as well which allowed others who didn't know him well to overlook the pain in his eyes.

Magnus stood over him with his arms crossed. Malcolm who'd just noticed him smiled. "Hello Bane. why so sour?" He said dropping his legs to the floor. Magnus stepped away without responding. He was too exhausted for this. Malcolm made little effort into sit up and bring his knees to his chest. " Not talking are we? It's okay I understand you're not pleased that decided to pay you a visit, What I don't understand is why my presence is so unpleasing." Thankfully it was Catarina who spoke next "Malcolm, let him sleep for twelve hours and then bombarded him all you like. I have to go, so please try not to drive each other crazy." she said heading to the door. "Wait! Don't leave me with him." Magnus pleaded gesturing to Malcolm. Catarina ignored him and the shut the behind her.

Malcolm turned to where Magnus was standing behind the couch. "So tell me all about you new lover, he seem interesting." Magnus narrowed his eyes at him and made his way to the kitchen. Malcolm followed him. Magnus opened one of the cabinets only to find it full of junk food or for the reason he had it breakup food. "You must really like him." Malcolm said from behind him and Magnus turned to face him. He stared at the other warlock blankly. "He's nephilim right?" Magnus still didn't respond. He knew some things were better left untold to Malcolm and he didn't want to talk about it right now and not with him. These were subjects he was better off discussing with Catarina who knew him better than anyone or with Tessa who understood. "Tessa's new lover is nephilim. Well he's not new but she hasn't seen him in a while. Strange man he just came back from being…. what are those things? what do you call them? um… you know the ones with the robes and act as healers?" Magnus watched as he struggled to explain. "Do you mean the silent brothers?" Magnus suggested with a smirk. "Oh yes I knew it was something depressing like that." Malcolm said pleased with himself.

Magnus looked at the floor feeling a slight pang of guilt at the mention of Brother Zachariah. He always did when he went to visit Tessa and he would ask about her visit with him that year. He would always feel like he had failed her, that he had failed them all. Tessa and her boys, the three people whose fates were so distant from each other yet three souls had never been so closely tied together.

He looked up at Malcolm who was staring at his dishwasher as if it were the most beautiful thing in the world. He was so tired. Magnus made his way past Malcolm and out into the hallway. He got some blankets from the hall closet and set up a place for Malcolm in one of guest rooms. He then made his way back to the kitchen to find Malcolm now starring at the oven. "Should I give you two some privacy?" He asked. "Malcolm broke his trance and looked at him surprised. "I think I'm tired now." was all he said. Magnus led his the the room he'd set up and then left for his own room.


End file.
